Description
Book SynopsisAetiologies seem to gratify the human desire to understand the origin of a phenomenon. However, as this book demonstrates, aetiologies do not exclusively explore origins. Rather, in inventing origin stories they authorise the present and try to shape the future. This book explores aetiology as a tool for thinking, and draws attention to the paradoxical structure of origin stories. Aetiologies reduce complex ambivalence and plurality to plainly causal and temporal relations, but at the same time, by casting an anchor into the past, they open doors to progress and innovation.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Inventing Anchors? Aetiological Thinking in Greek and Roman Antiquity Antje Wessels and Jacqueline Klooster PART 1: Aetiological Thinking. Old & New. From Present to Past to Future 1 Anchoring Innovations through Aetiology Annette Harder 2 The Parallels between Aetiology and Prophecy in Ancient Literature. Hindsight as Foresight Makes Sense Jacqueline Klooster PART 2: Aetiology and Politics 3 Veterem atque antiquam rem novam ad vos proferam. A New Drama, a Surprised Audience, and a ‘Live Aetiology’. Performing the Origin of the Amphitruo Andrea de March 4 Callimachus Romanus. Propertius’ Love Elegy and the Aetiology of Empire Alexander Kirichenko 5 The Origins of Rome in the Renaissance. Revival & Reinvention, Rejection & Replacement Susanna de Beer PART 3: Aetiology in Myth and Science. From Religion to Research 6 Resistance to Origins. Cult Foundation in the Myths of Dionysus, Apollo, and Demeter Susanne Gödde 7 Beginning with Hermes: Promoting Hermeticism through Aetiology in Corpus Hermeticum 1 Sean E. McGrath 8 The Aetiology of Myth Hugo Koning 9 Patroclus Was a Parasite. Lucian’s Satirical Aitia Inger N.I. Kuin 10 Crossing Borders. Aetiological Overlap in Plutarch’s Collections of Questions Michiel Meeusen Index
